Peqod :: Classes - Columbia University Catalog of Classes

Financial reporting provides a window into the operational and financial workings of a company. However, translating this information into actionable insights is anything but straightforward. It requires an understanding of: Generally Accepted Accounting Principles (GAAP), the quality of financial information, and the adjustments and analyses used to assess profitability, risk, growth, and value.

The course starts with a short review of financial reporting and then focuses on various modules of fundamental analysis, including earnings quality analysis, performance evaluation, risk assessment, forecasting, and valuation. The remaining class meetings (approximately 14 out of 24) are devoted to a deeper dive into the reporting and analysis of key transactions (e.g., business combinations, leasing) and financial statement line items (e.g., revenue, income taxes).

To allow for dynamic progress, the class schedule is flexible:
Topic Approximate # of class meetings
1. Review of financial reporting 2
2. Financial statement analysis 4
3. Forecasting and valuation 4
4. Revenue and related items 2
5. Operating capacity 3
6. Estimated items 3.5
7. Financial instruments 2
8. Investments in businesses 2.5
9. Equity and related items 1
Total 24

While the course covers the theoretical underpinning of the various analyses, it focuses on implementation and practical uses. We will study many actual financial disclosures and cases of accounting abuses, and we will conduct fundamental-based valuation and other financial analyses, including using Excel tools that will be provided to the students. Studying financial disclosures will help you better understand the underlying assumptions and accounting choices the firm made in arriving at its accounting numbers. This information can be used to make earnings quality adjustments to the accounting numbers to make them more consistent across time or more comparable across companies. Studying cases of accounting abuses will help you improve your ability to “read between the lines” and develop a set of red flags to look for in analyzing financial statements. The class also incorporates insights from practitioner and academic research.

The primary objective of the course is to acquire a deep understanding of accounting information and how to intelligently use it in making investment, credit, and similar resource allocation decisions. Such knowledge is required of investors, consultants, analysts, banke

Department: Accounting (ACCT)
TR 10:50 a.m.-12:20 p.m.
TR 4:10 p.m.-5:40 p.m.
Instructor: Jonathan Glover
h-index: 28 Info
3 points

Details

ACCT B8008

DISSERTATION COLLOQUIUM

Department: Middle Eastern, South Asian and African Studies
R 3:10 p.m.-5 p.m.
Instructor: Gil Hochberg
CULPA: 1 Wikipedia h-index: 14 Info
0 points

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MDES GR8008

Financial Statement Analysis a

Department: Accounting (ACCT)
R 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
R 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Kalash Jain
Info
3 points

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ACCT B8009

PHARMACOLOGY TECHNIQUES I

Department: Pharmacology
Instructor: Nihkil Sharma
Info
4-6 points

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PHAR G8009

Fundamental Analysis for Inves

Most of the decisions of analysts, consultants, entrepreneurs, investors and managers require us to look ahead and assess an uncertain future. In this class, you will learn a unique approach to decision making that will help you consider the fundamentals of enterprises and how to link these fundamentals to underlying measures, which in turn will help you make better investment or management decisions. Students who have taken this course often comment on how it has transformed their thinking and understanding of companies. It also serves as a useful “capstone” to the MBA program as we draw on what was taught in most core courses.
In developing this line of reasoning and performing the analysis, we consider how to think about a new business as well as a publicly traded company. Having considered the basic building blocks, we next examine how the business resources and activities are translated into financial statements (whether for an early stage or public company) and consider what we learn from financial statements. We consider the extensive information increasingly available from outside sources, including various websites as well as Bloomberg and CapIQ. We also consider how certain accounting measures and practices impact the measures of the key elements of the business.
Focusing on the future, we take a different approach to many topics/concepts that are covered in various ways in other financial statement analysis, earnings quality, and security analysis and valuation classes. Many students take this course as well as other seemingly similar courses, and we have never received any feedback that the coverage in this course is redundant, irrespective of the other courses taken by students.
We will focus on understanding how entities create or destroy value for various stakeholders and what it would take to change this, how to consider uncertainty more explicitly in plans, and whether this fundamental value is reflected in the price or not (for entities that it applies to).
We will also take some time each week to address any topics that are in the financial press that bear on the subjects and the approach.

Department: Accounting (ACCT)
FM 9 a.m.-12:15 p.m.
Instructor: Shivaram Rajgopal
Wikipedia h-index: 50 Info
3 points

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ACCT B8010

M.PHIL TEACHING EXPERIENCE

Department: Biomedical Informatics
Instructor: Karthik Natarajan
h-index: 17 Info
Instructor: Chunhua Weng
h-index: 37 Info
Instructor: Shalmali Joshi
Info
Instructor: Raul Rabadan
Wikipedia h-index: 72 Info
Instructor: Yufeng Shen
h-index: 47 Info
Instructor: Gamze Gursoy
Info
Instructor: Tal Korem
h-index: 18 Info
2 points

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BINF G8010

Inequality in High-skilled Labor Markets

Inqulity Hgh-skilled Labr

Department: Sociology
R 8:10 a.m.-10 a.m.
Instructor: Yao Lu
h-index: 25 Info
4 points

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SOCI GR8010

ASTROPHYSICS II

Department: Physics
MW 1:10 p.m.-2:25 p.m.
Instructor: Charles J Hailey
CULPA: 42 Wikipedia Info
3 points

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PHYS GR8012

HISTORIOGRAPHICAL TURNS IN THE BRITISH F

Department: History
M 2:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
Instructor: Susan Pedersen
CULPA: 15 Wikipedia Info
4 points

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HIST GR8013

Practicum: Advanced Clinical Management

PRAC ADV CLIN MGMT & LDRS

Department: Nursing
5 points

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NURS N8015

S PUB EDUC POLICY SEM & PRACT

Department: Law
MTWRF 9 a.m.-1 p.m.
None None-None
Instructor: Elizabeth M Chu
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5 points

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LAW_ L8016

S PUB EDUC POLICY SEM & PRACT

Department: Law
2 points

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LAW_ L8016

GRAD SEM IN MOD JAPANESE LIT

Department: East Asian Languages and Cultures
R 1:10 p.m.-4 p.m.
Instructor: Tomi Suzuki
CULPA: 5 Info
4 points

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JPNS GR8020

MASTERS THESIS

Department: Mechanical Engineering
Instructor: Sunil Agrawal
Wikipedia h-index: 65 Info
Instructor: P J Schuck
Info
Instructor: Michael Burke
h-index: 22 Info
Instructor: Vijay Vedula
h-index: 17 Info
Instructor: Matei T Ciocarlie
Info
Instructor: James Hone
CULPA: 11 h-index: 124 Info
Instructor: Jeffrey W Kysar
CULPA: 9 h-index: 37 Info
Instructor: Qiao Lin
h-index: 41 Info
Instructor: Bianca N Howard
Info
Instructor: Vijay Modi
CULPA: 3 h-index: 40 Info
Instructor: Kristin Myers
CULPA: 3 h-index: 25 Info
Instructor: Arvind Narayanaswamy
CULPA: 9 h-index: 26 Info
Instructor: Sinisa Vukelic
CULPA: 2 h-index: 11 Info
Instructor: Y. Lawrence Yao
CULPA: 3 h-index: 95 Info
Instructor: Karen Kasza
h-index: 17 Info
Instructor: Hod Lipson
Wikipedia h-index: 79 Info
1-3 points

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MECE E8020

Mergers and Acquisitions Accounting, a P

Merg & Acquisitions Accou

This half semester course will explore the financial reporting aspects of an array of common M&A transactions. Companies pursue transactions for a variety of reasons, but the fundamental reason is value creation. The financial statements are the primary means through which management communicates what was acquired, how it plans to create value and ultimately a scorecard of their success. We will discuss numerous examples to gain an understanding of how transaction motivations can drive the structure of a transaction and in turn dramatically change how it is reported. While we will touch on the perspectives of all participants in the financial reporting ecosystem at times, the primary focus is on the users of this information. Specifically, this means gaining an understanding of the information content of financial reports as it relates to transactions. Finally, we will touch on how the emerging area of ESG reporting fits into the picture. The objective is to obtain a level of literacy with respect to the accounting and reporting considerations relevant to transactions to enable the student to become an effective deal advisor.

Substantive areas covered include:

? Going it alone and the missing intangibles – Whether a company develops its own assets in house or gets access to them from third parties there is often a significant mismatch between when the cost and benefit appear in earnings.
? Alliances and joint ventures - The risk reward relationship is different than going it alone, the impact on reported results can be significant.
? Acquisitions - We will explore adding value through financial due diligence, understand the reporting implications of various M&A structures with a deep dive on contingent consideration and consider industry implications with a focus on banking deals.
? Harvesting value - What are the common structures to exit a business and what are the reporting implications for the seller and the divested business

The focus will be from the perspective of a strategic player. We will address the interactions with financial investors at various stages.

Department: Accounting (ACCT)
TR 4:10 p.m.-5:40 p.m.
Instructor: Andreas Ohl
Info
1.5 points

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ACCT B8025

Applied Fundamental Analysis with Altern

Applied Fund Analysis Alt

Finding the ground truth regarding the positioning, operations, and prospects of a company, country, resource pool, or investment opportunity is challenging. It is imperative to go beyond the numbers in financial statements with alternative data and information. In this course, we will learn to accept that no predefined formula exists to identify, quantify, and project a complex organization operating in a constantly evolving global environment.
We will highlight the importance of sufficiently framing questions for intelligence gathering and analysis. The act of questioning serves as the very foundation of any investigation, project, or research endeavor. It sharpens our focus, guides our inquiry, and lays the groundwork for meaningful and actionable answers. The power to shape our understanding of the world, businesses, consumers, and individual actors lies in the answers and data we gather and the quality and direction of the questions we pose.
The confidence to ask the right questions and break down the subject of the analysis and associated materials will be a vital component of the learning. The student will work with real datasets and benefit from direct advice, experience, and practical insights from portfolio managers, research analysts, consulting data analysts, and others to derive value from the world of information within their reach.
The combination of traditional and alternative data with the right real-world questions serves to forecast future outcomes. The overarching framework for applied learning will be:
• Collection: Framing the appropriate questions and sourcing information and data in context of the subject being evaluated.
• Evaluation: Understating the reliability of the data and validity of the information value as presented.
• Analysis: Applying methodologies and frameworks, including financial frameworks to transform the data for concise decisions.
• Reporting: Frameworks for pushing the data to subject models, including financial models, presenting the derived intelligence in a useable format.
• Distribution: Informing user, including oneself and integrating feedback on the outcomes.
This course guides the student in acquiring alternative data, extracting insight from it, using it for projections, contextual business model evaluation, and determining “unknown unknowns”. The learning journey is intended to be insightful, engaging, empowering, and supplement traditional data, such as financial statements for st

Department: Accounting (ACCT)
MF 2:20 p.m.-5:35 p.m.
Instructor: Matthew M Dell Orfano
Info
1.5 points

Details

ACCT B8026

Measuring and Managing Climate Risk

Measuring & Managing Clim

The traditional financial reporting model is deficient in two fundamental respects: (i) we set the cost of natural capital used by the business to zero; and (ii) we either under-emphasize or ignore accounting for externalities, both positive and negative, imposed by the business on other stakeholders.

The objective of this class is explore one major aspect of natural capital and its attendant risks—related to climate. The focus is mostly on how companies, both in the U.S. and elsewhere, measure, disclose, govern and hence manage (or sometimes mis-manage) climate risk exposures.

The Paris Agreement of 2015 was meant to mobilize a global response to the threat of climate change, amid growing concerns by scientific experts, as documented in a series of IPCC reports. Since the Paris agreement was signed, hundreds of firms have made net zero emissions promises. Regulators and the investment community has been pushing firms to evaluate their climate risk exposure and the impact thereof on the firm’s business model and value drivers.

Having said that, integrating environmental risks into company and investment analysis is not easy. The data and disclosures underlying measurement of these risks are all over the place. The tools and metrics used in practice, such as carbon footprints to forward looking climate scenario analysis, range from snake oil to highly sophisticated scientific approaches aimed at understanding climate exposure of a firm or an asset management fund’s business.

On the positive end of the spectrum, technological innovation has and will continue to give rise to many investment opportunities. Sustainable finance has exploded to cover low carbon funds, green bonds, sustainability linked debt and other securities designed to capture these opportunities. Many of these investment vehicles need careful scrutiny as financial and legal engineering and associated greenwashing is not uncommon.

We hope to cover these issues and ask a few hard questions related to (i) how do firms and some state owned entities measure and manage climate risks; (ii) how should we consume trillion dollar forecasts of the costs and opportunities associated with climate change; (iii) should we trust a net zero pledge; (iv) how should we assess physical and transition risks for firm exposed to climate change; (v) how should we consume ESG reports and ESG data providers; (vi) will businesses manage to transform themselves enough to adapt to decarbonization challenge; (vii)